Thursday, January 5, 2012

Thiebaud Inspired Cakes

5th Graders finished up their cakes modeled after Wayne Thiebaud's collection this week. Our focus was tints and shades and I think they turned out pretty yummy looking! It is always interesting to me how difficult angles can be (even for older kids).

These turned out great! I teach in a middle school where my students have had very little art experiences and are a bit self conscience about drawing. I'd love to do this project with them. Could you give me some tips on how you instructed them through the drawing process?

I started having the kids draw an oval near the top of their paper. They made a dot in the center of the oval and then drew the 2 diagonal lines out to the bottom edge of the oval (erasing the portion of the oval between the 2 diagonals). Next, we drew the left and right sides of the cake, stopping about an inch and half before the bottom of the page. Then, they drew the bottom of the cake (I likened it to the smile in a happy face -- a large curve. At this point they have a whole cake.

To "remove the slice" I had them draw the 2 lines down from the top oval to that "happy face" line at the bottom, erasing the portion of the arc between those two lines.

The last step was the hardest for some. They drew the vertical line from the dot in the center of their oval to near the bottom. I explained that the bottom diagonals needed to match the top diagonals and showed them how to "eyeball" that using their fingers or 2 pencils to judge how make those lines parallel (same with the middle frosting diagonal lines.

Great lesson + great teacher = excellent student work!!! These look fantastic! I also like how you have displayed them on large black paper to create a frame! I have tried this lesson with my 5th graders. The most difficult part for them is adding value to the inside. How do you explain this process to your students?

First, thank you for the kind words. With respect to shading, I always demonstrate first with a flashlight shining on cylinders and we discuss "light source." You'll notice in the 2nd photo above there is a little icon picture of a lightbulb. All students use these as a visual reference for where their light is coming from and what part of the cake it hits. I find this helps with that internal shading (although for some it is still hard). I think shading is one of those skills that improves the more the kids work with it.